


The World

by luna_libertatis



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Tides of Fate: A FFXV Tarot Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:13:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23113744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luna_libertatis/pseuds/luna_libertatis
Summary: A sestina for the first Oracle.Written for Tides of Fate: A FFXV Tarot Project, for The World card (artwork by @socks_art).  This card depicts Aera, surrounded by representations of the Six Astrals.A sestina is a poem with six stanzas of six lines and a final triplet. All stanzas have the same six words at the line-ends, in six different sequences, that follow a fixed pattern. All six words also appear in the final triplet.
Kudos: 4
Collections: Tides of Fate: A FFXV Tarot Project





	The World

**Author's Note:**

> A sestina for the first Oracle.
> 
> Written for Tides of Fate: A FFXV Tarot Project, for The World card (artwork by @socks_art). This card depicts Aera, surrounded by representations of the Six Astrals. 
> 
> A sestina is a poem with six stanzas of six lines and a final triplet. All stanzas have the same six words at the line-ends, in six different sequences, that follow a fixed pattern. All six words also appear in the final triplet.

* * *

I. Leviathan

I nearly drowned when I was six.  
Slipped beneath and swept away.  
Claimed by something ancient; told it wasn’t my time.  
I awakened in my mother’s arms,  
Pale and pink as the shells beneath her feet,  
Prayers of gratitude pouring off her tongue.

II. Ramuh

Lightning snaps like a serpent’s tongue.  
As it fades, I hold my breath, count up to six,  
Before his rumble leaps me from my bed and to my feet.  
The hour is late for travel, but the grove is not far away.  
I kneel before the god-seared tree and raise my rain-soaked arms.  
His voice crackles across the dark: “It’s about time.”

III. Titan

When I made pilgrimage the first time  
I dressed in white, I let no food or water pass my tongue.  
I remember the Disc, and thinking what beautiful doom he cradled in his arms…  
They say I started chanting. They say that it took six  
Grown men to lift me up and carry me away  
As the stones all shook beneath their feet.

IV. Ifrit

I found the trail left by our ancestors’ feet,  
Leading to the temple ruins, lost in time.  
His fire blooms, but I’m not afraid; I do not look away.  
My old life tastes like ashes on my tongue.  
Here lies a dreamer. But whose dream? It’s six  
Days later I emerge, soot smearing my face and arms.

V. Shiva

The young lords pull their cloaks tight around their arms.  
And though it’s summer, frost crunches as they stamp their feet.  
I asked to see their Crystal, for I am blessed by the Six.  
They asked for proof; she gives us a miracle: a season out of time.  
One brother catches my eye as I catch a snowflake on my tongue;  
He is mine before it even melts away.

VI. Bahamut

Whatever name he whispers, someone will be cast away,  
Never more embraced by loving arms.  
He tells me in the sacred tongue  
To bring a man to his knees, and a nation to its feet.  
With a single word, uttered at the proper time  
By the First Oracle, the revelator of the Six.

VII. Aera

I will no longer hold my tongue, not even for the Six.  
I claim my future, and no arms can hold me back this time.  
And as I speak, the veil slips away, pale silk pooling at my feet.


End file.
